Preliminary study of HCHO spatial and temporal distribution from Coastal to Plateau areas in Antarctica

Abstract

Formaldehyde concentrations were determined in over 1800 snow samples (snowpit, firn cores and superficial snow) from Antarctica by a sensitive spectrofluorimetric Flow Injection Analysis method. The method performances (detection limit: 55 ng/L; reproducibility: 2.5% at 1 µg/L level; linear range: 0.1–3000 µg/L) allowed a reliable determination of formaldehyde content in all the collected samples. The range of determined concentrations was 0–70 µg/L with a mean concentration of 7.7 µg/L and a median concentration of 5.8 µg/L. The formaldehyde background level was estimated at a few micrograms per liter in coastal and plateau areas of Northern Victoria Land. In some stations the background values are modulated by HCHO deposition events recurring over relatively large time periods.

Keywords:

• Formaldehyde
• Flow analysis
• Antarctica
• Snow

Acknowledgements

This research was carried out within the framework of a Project on Chemical Contamination and Glaciology of the Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) and was financially supported by ENEA through a co-operation agreement with Milano-Bicocca University.

This work is a contribution to the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA), a joint ESF (European Science Foundation)/EC scientific programme, funded by the European Commission and by national contributions from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is EPICA publication no. 83.

The authors wish to thank all the members of the Italian Antarctic campaigns from 1993/1994 to the 1997/1998.